10th consecutive season without playoffs is here - A DECADE

[MODO Hockey]

 

 

 

 

This season is over for sure, it's beyond miracle that this team can reach a playoff spot. 

There are many things i dont understand  with this organisation and here are a few,

Why have this org not done everything in their power to really change things up before this season started (which i firmly believe they have not), they have never ever
had this much time up their sleve to prepare. WHY?

So what could have been done now knowing the facts,

Well first of all - last season results should have been enough, fire ppl once again cuz it wasnt working. Just look at Bills. Luck? mm maybe, who cares?
Rinse and repeat for fk sake.

Just look what Barry have done with Islanders, im not saying we would have same success but we sure as hell needed a coach that actually know how to win, Ralph have never won anything in his life except 5 championships in the mountains of Austrich, a league that is beyond bad and was aswell when he was there, were talking ECHL level or worse.
He could actually be the worst coach in the history of this franchise. And still this org believes in this m o r o n.


Anyway,
Focus areas should've been (more than it has) on:

Headcoach with a winning culture, a strict coach and together with that:

- Mental coach
- Ethics coach
- Ton of online team building
- Brought up Chris Taylor as assistant coach, totally deserved that one


And the list goes on .. but yea, let's go with Ralph K. This org can ...whatever ill just do this one again...


 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by MODO Hockey

[LGR4GM]

[lost in dc]

A decade of hockey hell.

[Weave]

Hard to take when you were emotionally invested in the process.  I guess it is easier to take when you assumed early on that the this was a very real possible outcome.

[miles]

i didnt think the sabres would make the playoffs because they are playing only the east teams. however, i didnt think they would be this bad. i mean this is tank level bad

[darksabre]

11 minutes ago, Weave said:

Hard to take when you were emotionally invested in the process.  I guess it is easier to take when you assumed early on that the this was a very real possible outcome.

I'm thinking about a certain goalie a lot lately
 

 

[Stoner]

MODO your organizational chart is THE REASON for the lost decade.

 

[MODO Hockey]

8 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

MODO your organizational chart is THE REASON for the lost decade.

 

Indeed.

[Cal Naughton Jr]

Let’s be fair...

[Sabre fan]

I feel so guilty cause I got my son to love this disfunctional team and now he is lamenting with me! Mind you in my defense I got him liking the team back when they were exciting and had so much heart (80s and 90s and early 2000's). This is downright embarrassing now compared to how awesome they were back in the "good old days". Seems the turn-around coin-sided with Pegulas buying the team  as they try to do to much and should leave the team to people who are experienced and know what they are doing.  One only needs look at teams like Toronto who tanked got Mathews then brought in experienced people at virtually every level to run the team and they immediately got better. Looks like we are still tanking even when we are not even trying to!

[Ross Rhea]

And staring an 11th straight season without playoffs if Ralph is retained because he somehow manipulated the Pegulas into believing it will get worse before it gets better. 

Terry and Kim need to wake the eff up and figure out real quick Ralph sold them a line of BS and fire his arse!

[Gatorman0519]

Looks like the Sabres are heading towards the longest drought in history.  We have set a new unprecedented standard of dysfunction and futility to the likes never seen before.  And I’m not exaggerating.  It’s staggering to behold. They are losing a fan base and that’s hard to do in Buffalo.  Who in their right minds will buy season tix next year? Once they trade Jack and Sam and likely lose those trades, we could be looking at indefinitely bad hockey.  There is nothing on the horizon which gives me hope at this moment. And I’m generally a positive person. 

[MODO Hockey]

15 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Looks like the Sabres are heading towards the longest drought in history.  We have set a new unprecedented standard of dysfunction and futility to the likes never seen before.  And I’m not exaggerating.  It’s staggering to behold. They are losing a fan base and that’s hard to do in Buffalo.  Who in their right minds will buy season tix next year? Once they trade Jack and Sam and likely lose those trades, we could be looking at indefinitely bad hockey.  There is nothing on the horizon which gives me hope at this moment. And I’m generally a positive person. 

I was also positive once. 

 

[WildCard]

For a league where literally over 50% of the teams make the playoffs, not making it in a decade is astoundingly embarrassing. 

[dudacek]

The path I would take if I were Adams:

1) fire Krueger and his entire staff (I might keep Bales because we will need a body and a reference to what came before)

2) hire Boudreau as an interim coach with the focus of evaluating what we have on the current roster and reporting to Adams at the end of the season.

3) hire Rutherford as a short-term consultant with a focus on evaluating what we have and advising Adams on player personnel and hockey department structuring

4) trade every pending UFA — Hall, Staal, Montour, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin — with a focus on accumulating assets to fuel a summer rebuild

5) tell Boudreau to focus his attention on reclaiming Skinner and Dahlin

6) play the crap out of Bryson, Casey, Tage, Dylan, Joki and Asplund, while giving a taste to some of the guys down on the farm

7) evaluate the trade market for every other veteran.

Take what you've learned at the end of the season, formulate a plan for fixing this mess including your long-term hirings, signings and trades, and execute that plan.

Edited March 12, 2021 by dudacek

[Sabre1974]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The path I would take if I were Adams:

1) fire Krueger and his entire staff (I might keep Bales because we will need a body and a reference to what came before)

2) hire Boudreau as an interim coach with the focus of evaluating what we have and reporting to Adams at the end of the season.

3) hire Rutherford as a short-term consultant with a focus on evaluating what we have and advising Adams on player personnel and hockey department structuring

4) trade every pending UFA — Hall, Staal, Montour, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin — with a focus on accumulating assets to fuel a summer rebuild

5) tell Boudreau to focus his attention on reclaiming Skinner and Dahlin

6) play the crap out of Bryson, Casey, Tage, Dylan, Joki and Asplund, while giving a taste to some of the guys down on the farm

7) evaluate the trade market for every other veteran.

Take what you've learned at the end of the season, formulate a plan for fixing this mess including hirings, signings and trades, and execute that plan.

Sounds good. Too much like sense. No 6 totally agree. Play these guys. No more vets please

[Scottysabres]

7 minutes ago, WildCard said:

For a league where literally over 50% of the teams make the playoffs, not making it in a decade is astoundingly embarrassing. 

And yet, here we are.

"Here in in the Buffalo, New York region mask sales are the global lowest. The Sabres Nation faithful are pro face covering however, leading the globe in recyclable paper bag sales, AINEC."

Edited March 12, 2021 by Scottysabres

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The path I would take if I were Adams:

1) fire Krueger and his entire staff (I might keep Bales because we will need a body and a reference to what came before)

2) hire Boudreau as an interim coach with the focus of evaluating what we have on the current roster and reporting to Adams at the end of the season.

3) hire Rutherford as a short-term consultant with a focus on evaluating what we have and advising Adams on player personnel and hockey department structuring

4) trade every pending UFA — Hall, Staal, Montour, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin — with a focus on accumulating assets to fuel a summer rebuild

5) tell Boudreau to focus his attention on reclaiming Skinner and Dahlin

6) play the crap out of Bryson, Casey, Tage, Dylan, Joki and Asplund, while giving a taste to some of the guys down on the farm

7) evaluate the trade market for every other veteran.

Take what you've learned at the end of the season, formulate a plan for fixing this mess including your long-term hirings, signings and trades, and execute that plan.

If this is all with an eye on competing for a playoff spot next season and a playoff spot being the expectation, I agree with all of it I think. 

I got a kick out of the Bales thing, too haha. "Tell everyone what you have learned here, today. You've been spared. For now". 

Probably the last kick at it with Jack, too, so gotta make it count

Edited March 12, 2021 by Thorny

[Mustache of God]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The path I would the Peguals will take if I were  carried out by Adams:

1) fire Krueger and his entire staff (I might keep Bales because we will need a body and a reference to what came before)

1) Retain Kruger and give the entire staff a Mulligan. 

2) hire Boudreau as an interim coach with the Don't do a damn thing other than communicating the specter of a focus of evaluating what we have on the current roster and reporting to Adams ownership at the end of the season.

3) hire Rutherford as a short-term consultant with a focus on evaluating what we have and advising Adams on player personnel and hockey department structuring Don't hire anyone to help with personal or hockey decisions. Why fix what's not broken?

4) DONT trade every any pending UFA — Hall, Staal, Montour, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin — with a focus on accumulating assets to fuel a summer rebuild and let them walk for nothing.  However, we'll consider it a win if we can get a 3rd or 4th round pick in the 2024 draft.

5) tell Boudreau  Ralph to focus his attention on reclaiming  sculpting Skinner and Dahlin to his master vision which is definitely working.

6) play the crap out of Bryson, Casey, Tage, Dylan, Joki and Asplund,  Okposo, Irwin, Reider, Eakin, CJ Smith, Sheahan while giving a taste to some of the guys down on the farm putting rochesters best players on the taxi squad but never playing them.

7) evaluate the trade market for every other veteran. Understand there's little value in Free Agency and re-sign Okposo and Hutton to long term contracts.

Take what you've learned at the end of the season, formulate a plan for fixing this mess including hirings, signings and trades, and execute that plan.

 

[Randall Flagg]

17 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The path I would take if I were Adams:

1) fire Krueger and his entire staff (I might keep Bales because we will need a body and a reference to what came before)

2) hire Boudreau as an interim coach with the focus of evaluating what we have on the current roster and reporting to Adams at the end of the season.

3) hire Rutherford as a short-term consultant with a focus on evaluating what we have and advising Adams on player personnel and hockey department structuring

4) trade every pending UFA — Hall, Staal, Montour, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin — with a focus on accumulating assets to fuel a summer rebuild

5) tell Boudreau to focus his attention on reclaiming Skinner and Dahlin

6) play the crap out of Bryson, Casey, Tage, Dylan, Joki and Asplund, while giving a taste to some of the guys down on the farm

7) evaluate the trade market for every other veteran.

Take what you've learned at the end of the season, formulate a plan for fixing this mess including your long-term hirings, signings and trades, and execute that plan.

It's this easy. Too bad we will get this:

1.) Retain Krueger through the season, so that we can fire him several days after it finishes to not have 2 coaches on payroll. 

2.) Not only are the lost games of spring 2021 wasted in this sense, but they will be wasted in terms of player development. Bryson and Borgen (when he gets back) will continue to rotate to the bench so that Irwin and Davidson will continue to receive significant amounts of playing time. Rieder-Eakin-Okposo will survive a nuclear holocaust and continue to churn out minutes in front of our 2 bad goalies. Mitts will play about 35% of the time, a few minutes per game, Tage will play about 20% of the time. Cozens will get one rest day per week. Asplund will get about 5 more games. Joki will spend more time on the taxi squad than off.

3.) We will trade 1 or 2 UFAs, but cite the pandemic and the market dynamics as reason for lack of moves. We will re-sign Hall, setting the stage to move Reinhart first thing this offseason. For middling picks and B prospects

4.) Upon the relief of Krueger's duties, the ensuing press conference will include an announcement that Nate Leaman is the new head coach. Kim explains that we didn't need to go through an interview process, as we remember him from last time and really like his attitude and demeanor. Who is Gerard Galland or Bruce Brodeur? Also, we really feel that we are set for the draft with what we have, so the lack of WHL, Russia or Finland scouts will be permanent. 

5.) To shore up the center spine, we add Brandon Sutter and Riley Nash. Patrick Nemeth and Jack Johnson will do wonders to add grit and a veteran presence to our defense group, and we like the growth mindset of Jonas Johansson, so we will keep him on at backup G. We love the development of our young guys, so the rest of our improvement will be through their continued development. 

6.) 40% increase on tickets and concessions 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Randall Flagg

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's this easy. Too bad we will get this:

1.) Retain Krueger through the season, so that we can fire him several days after it finishes to not have 2 coaches on payroll. 

2.) Not only are the lost games of spring 2021 wasted in this sense, but they will be wasted in terms of player development. Bryson and Borgen (when he gets back) will continue to rotate to the bench so that Irwin and Davidson will continue to receive significant amounts of playing time. Rieder-Eakin-Okposo will survive a nuclear holocaust and continue to churn out minutes in front of our 2 bad goalies. Mitts will play about 35% of the time, 9 minutes per game, Tage will play about 20% of the time. Cozens will get one rest day per week. Asplund will get about 5 more games. Joki will spend more time on the taxi squad than off.

3.) We will trade 1 or 2 UFAs, but cite the pandemic and the market dynamics as reason for lack of moves. We will re-sign Hall, setting the stage to move Reinhart first thing this offseason.

4.) Upon the relief of Krueger's duties, the ensuing press conference will include an announcement that Nate Leaman is the new head coach. Kim explains that we didn't need to go through an interview process, as we remember him from last time and really like his attitude and demeanor. Who is Gerard Galland or Bruce Brodeur? Also, we really feel that we are set for the draft with what we have, so the lack of WHL, Russian, or Finnish scouts will be permanent. 

5.) To shore up the center spine, we add Brandon Sutter and Riley Nash. Patrick Nemeth and Jack Johnson will do wonders to add grit and a veteran presence to our defense group, and we like the growth mindset of Jonas Johansson, so we will keep him on at backup G. We love the development of our young guys, so the rest of our improvement will be through their continued development. 

6.) 40% increase on tickets and concessions 

There will be a push for it, too. Please, just, no. No. Learn from your mistakes. A good team does not re-up Hall. 

Oh, they also don't have an OHL scout right now. Retaining the Botterill drafting model allows them to forgo the cost of CHL scouts, I can't see why it wouldn't continue, and it already did in Adams' first draft. 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Thorny

[SwampD]

Why would the Sabres have scouts for leagues that aren’t playing?

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

Why would the Sabres have scouts for leagues that aren’t playing?

They gonna hire a WHL guy in the next week?

[SwampD]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

They gonna hire a WHL guy in the next week?

Maybe?

[SABRES 0311]

Do we throw a party or something? 10 years is impressive.  Shout out to SS posters and all those who still faithfully watch the Sabres hoping this will be the game the franchise turns it around.  
 

I think I lowlight reel of the last 10 years is in order.